“I’m sorry but the plane is having problems. We’ll try to organize a flight in the morning, but you will have to stay here tonight. We have hotel for you.”
“No no no, you don’t know! I am very important person and I must get to Bangalore tonight!”
“Just shut up and get the hotel. People are waiting!”
“You don’t tell me to shut up! You don’t know who I am!”
“You don’t cut the line damn right!”
And so the comedic squabble proceeds as such. Argumentative Indians crowd around the desk at the humid and mosquito-infested Trivandrum airport, heads wobbling and voices raised. I feel like I’ve been caught in the middle of the famous “you kicked my dog” prank call and part of me is looking around for hidden cameras.
But this is no candid camera show. This is the reality of traveling in India. My sister and I are booked on a flight from Cochin to Bangalore, which, for some reason, stops over in Kerala’s capital of Trivandrum. Not only is it nearly 1,000km out of the way, we are missing our connecting flight to Goa and we’re stuck here overnight, if not longer. At first we are frustrated, we are tired and hungry and getting impatient with the general incompetence that seems to permeate the most basic interactions. However, after witnessing this entertaining scene, all we can do is laugh, accept the fact that we are totally powerless in this situation, pull out the deck of cards, and go with the flow…
1 comment:
Ah, Trivandrum airport. Been there, done that, bought that t-shirt. Many times. Wouldn't quite say mosquito infested. But they are building a new terminal- should be nice.
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